Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-02-12
TWO GOOD BILLS TO KILL.

TWO GOOD BILLS TO KILL.
Assembly bill 50 proposes las amended
that manufacturers shall conspicuously
stamp or label all their products with their
names, the names of those who have
partly made them, the place where made,
and the number of the building if in a city.
Moreover, every one who sells these pro-
ducts must conspicuously expose to view
the stamp or label. For false labelling and
for failing to stamp or label, offenders are
to be punished by fine or Imprisonment, or
both, as may be those who, selling the
goods, fail to expose the stamp or label to
view. A premium is offered to informers
who reveal violations of the proposed law.
The measure was intended originally to
reach Chinese manufacturers, but as the
law must be general it will, if adopted,
apply to all classes. Assembly bill $50
requires the date of packing stamped on
all manufactured goods, or their packages.
How will these measures operate-con
ceding the desirability of being able to
identify Chinese products? The manu-
features for export prunes, raisins, canned
fruits, smoked and canned salmon, and
host of other products-would be seriously
injured by such stamping or labelling. In
many cases it would amount to absolute
embargo upon export. In the case of sal
mon-paclking, fully ninety per cent is for
export, and to stamp the packages as de-
manded would prohibit their sale in many
markets abroad, do no earthly good here,
and in no wise promote the anti Chinese
sentiment. The smaller Gamers Of goods
here maintain the business mainly by sale
of unlabeled packages to the larger estab-
lishments. To shut these up as the bills
would do, would be to cut off one of the
avenues through which growers of
fruit dispose of their products in many To-
calities throughout the State. These
small Gamers, if forced to label their
goods, could not deal with the large con-
Germs. They have not the means to estab-
fish themselves in the Eastern markets, or
to "carry over their own goods. Blot out
the small Gamers, and the interior mar
kets will be affected injuriously, for pro-
ducers will be driven to the few localities
where there are large manufactures.
These small Gamers put up only the pro-
ducts of their immediate section, and do
not pack full lines" But a "full line"
is needed when an Eastern outlet is
sought, and hence it is desirable for the
large dealers to be able to buy these small
packs" grade them and label them uni
formly according to quality. In no other
way is it possible to market these goods
with satisfactory results, for the Eastern
buyer will not take an invoice of mixed
brands, of necessity unknown to him.
As to the second bill, it is clear that to
date packages of manufacture is to give
them fictitious value. For age is not,
as has been shown in the case of
canned fruits 4 sign of deterioration. 1t
is said that some fruits really improve by
age in cans or jars. Eastern goods come
to us without date labels; to date ours
would be to discriminate against ourselves
and in favor of Eastern goods. Such
stamp would raise the price of canned
goods, as it would increase the risk of car
rying old-date stock-so in this, as in
most cases of interference with commercial
laws, the consumer would suffer- Neither
the date-stamp bill nor the label bill
would, as laws, aid consumers in determin-
ing the character or quality of the goods.
Either bill would tend to restrict manu-
facture to actual orders, for retail purchas-
ers would buy cautiously here and abroad,
and hence the bills besides tending to put
canning into the hands of few strong
persons, may be said to strike directly at
the fruit-growing industry, and especially
the small frut-growers, raisin-dryers and
prune-curers. If the Legislature is dis
posedt to handicap fruit and grape-growing
and curing, limit canning, give our pro-
ducts a suspicious character and reduce
home consumption Of home products, it
should pass these bills, or either of them.